Thenable interface and conformance test case

This has been carefully balanced between the requirements of Promises/A+ and
the abilitiy for implementations to provide their own flexible use cases for
a polymorphic API; it will evolve as needed until the first release.

The conformance test cases do pass properly---I will be comitting an
implementation that makes use of the conformance tests.
aplus
Mike Gerwitz 2014-08-17 22:20:58 -04:00
parent d25dff1e84
commit 0ff65e6fd6
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/**
* Promises/A+ "thenable" type
*
* Copyright (C) 2014 Mike Gerwitz
*
* This file is part of jsTonic.
*
* jstonic is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
* it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
* the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
* (at your option) any later version.
*
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
* GNU General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
* along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
*
* There are a lot of words here, and very little code; to ensure that you
* get the most from your implementation of this interface, be sure to also
* run the Thenable conformance tests on it.
*/
let Interface = require( 'easejs' ).Interface;
/**
* Any type defining a #then method with two parameters for, respectfully,
* asynchronous request fulfillment and rejection
*
* This formalizes "thenable" as defined in Promises/A+ in §2.2, but
* decoupled from the requirements of a "promise". When the term "thenable"
* is used, it refers to the Promises/A+ specification---any function or
* object with a `then` method; when `Thenable` (with a capital 'T') is
* used, it refers to this interface or an object of type `Thenable`.
*
* The distinction between a `Thenable` and a promise is intentional: a
* `Thenable` has certain guarantees ensuring that it can be used
* predictably (and polymorphically) as part of a promise-like pattern; it
* says nothing of how a `Thenable` is resolved (fulfilled or rejected), for
* instance.
*
* `Thenable`s are *not* required to be stateful and may therefore be
* implemented deterministically; that is---a `Thenable` need not keep track
* of prior invocations to prevent duplicate callback applications (indeed,
* this specification discourages stateful `Thenable`s). This can be
* rationalized in a number of ways, all conforming to the language and
* spirit of the Promises/A+ specification:
*
* 1. Section 1.2 defines a "thenable" as: "an object or function that
* defines a `then` method"; this is a very broad definition that does
* not even impose parameter requirements (but `Thenable` does);
*
* 2. Section 1.1 defines a "promise" as: "an object or function with a
* `then` method that *conforms to this specification*" (emphasis
* added); note that 1.2 has no requirement to conform to any
* specification;
*
* 3. States are imposed upon "promises" by §2.1---these states are what
* prevent invoking `then` callbacks multiple times, because
* Promises/A+ requires that a promise (a) cannot change state once
* resolved; and (b) cannot change its value; from this we infer that
* `Thenable`s need not manage such state;
*
* 4. Paragraphs 2.2.{2,3}.3 do require that each callback "not be called
* more than once", but this requirement is for a `then` method that
* conforms to the Promises/A+ specification---a requirement imposed
* not on a thenable, but instead upon a promise (by §1); and
*
* 5. Paragraph 2.3.3.3 describes invoking an arbitrary thenable, making
* no mention of state, and instead relying on the state of the promise
* being resolved, which wraps the result of the thenable. Indeed, the
* opening paragraphs of §2.3 include: "It also allows the
* Promises/A+ implementations to "assimilate" nonconformant
* implementations with reasonable `then` methods". `Thenable` ensures
* that such methods are reasonable through its specification and,
* notably, parameter requirements (which are compatible with 2.3.3.3).
*
* `Thenable` therefore permits arbitrary implementations---possibly
* entirely disjoint from the concept of promises---while still allowing
* them to work with the A+ implementation by imposing a *subset* of
* requirements of the Promises/A+ specification. This is important, since
* it would be ideal for a consumer of a promise to instead accept anything
* of type Thenable, confident that the callbacks will be invoked
* consistently and as intended, without having to worry about any
* particular promise implementation (thereby successfully remaining
* decoupled).
*
* The asynchronous requirement (imposed by the stack requirements in
* Promises/A+) of `Thenable` exists because it does not make much sense to
* use a synchronous thenable---otherwise, no `then` method would be needed,
* and the code should be written in a synchronous style; it is dangerous
* for code to be written in an asynchronous style and to then be executed
* synchronously, as it may have disastrous effects on system responsiveness
* (consider UI updates that use `then` as an implicit opportunity to
* repaint).
*
* Of course, this interface specification must be followed in order for
* such a point to be valid; just be cognisant of the implementations that
* you accept in your own software. This interface will accept any thenable
* as described by Promises/A+---even plain objects with a `then`
* method---through GNU ease.js' interop support, when the object in
* question is not an instance of an ease.js class.
*
* For examples---and to test your own Thenable implementations---refer to
* the conformance tests.
*/
module.exports = Interface( 'Thenable',
{
/**
* Access current or eventual value or reason
*
* Both callbacks are optional and shall be either ignored or rejected
* if they are not functions, and shall be silently ignored if
* missing (length of argument list is less than two), `undefined` or
* `null`. Only one of either ONFULFILLED or ONREJECTED shall ever be
* invoked for a given value/reason pair.
*
* The callbacks must be executed after the call stack has cleared and
* contains only calls to platform code---in practice, this means
* executing after a setTimeout, process.nextTick, or something similar.
* They must be invoked as functions with no `this` value.
*
* This interface decouples thenables from the concept of a promise
* (contrary to Promises/A+ §2.2); therefore, the return value
* must return another Thenable, but any more specific implementation
* details are undefined; specific implementations may impose additional
* requirements.
*
* This method may be called multiple times for any `Thenable`, in which
* case all callbacks must be enqueued for invocation in the order that
* their respective `then` was called (Promises/A+ §2.2.6).
*
* @param {function(*)} onFulfilled invoked upon value fulfillment
* @param {function(*)} onRejected invoked upon value rejection/failure
*
* @return {Thenable} another Thenable object
*/
then: [ 'onFulfilled', 'onRejected' ],
} );

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/**
* Tests for conforming Thenable implementation
*
* Copyright (C) 2014 Mike Gerwitz
*
* This file is part of jsTonic.
*
* jstonic is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
* it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
* the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
* (at your option) any later version.
*
* This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
* but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
* MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
* GNU General Public License for more details.
*
* You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
* along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
*/
let Class = require( 'easejs' ).Class,
Sut = require( '../../' ).then.Thenable,
expect = require( 'chai' ).expect;
module.exports = ( ctor, accept, reject ) =>
{
describe( 'conforming to Thenable', () =>
{
it( 'implements Thenable', () =>
expect( Class.isA( Sut, ctor() ) ).to.be.true );
describe( '#then', () => _thenTests( ctor, accept, reject ) );
/**
* Promises/A+ 2.2.4.
*
* For detailed rationale on why this is imposed on a simple
* thenable, see the Thenable interface.
*/
describe( 'call stack', () =>
describe( 'is allowed to clear', () =>
{
let stack_ctor = ( type, done ) =>
{
let cleared = false;
let chk = () =>
{
expect( cleared ).to.be.true;
done();
};
// ensure the stack clears
setTimeout( () => cleared = true, 0 );
// if the callback is invoked asynchronously, then it
// will run after the above timeout callback
type( ctor().then(
type === accept && chk,
type === reject && chk ) );
};
it( 'before invoking fulfillment callback', done =>
stack_ctor( accept, done ) );
it( 'before invoking rejection callback', done =>
stack_ctor( reject, done ) );
} ) );
} );
};
function _thenTests( ctor, accept, reject )
{
let sut;
// these methods just make it easier to work into a lisp-style
// procedure
let accept_sut = () => accept( sut ),
reject_sut = () => reject( sut );
beforeEach( () =>
{
sut = ctor();
} );
it( 'returns another Thenable', () =>
expect( Class.isA( Sut, ctor().then( null, null ) ) )
.to.be.true );
describe( 'callbacks', () =>
{
/**
* The Promises/A+ specification states that non-function
* arguments must be "ignored"; this is a bit ambiguous, since
* ignoring can involve any number of things, including throwing
* an exception (and ignoring the values as a consequence of
* aborting the call).
*
* We will allow the implementation to do whatever it chooses,
* provided that the most definitive indications of intentional
* omission are permitted without error.
*
* See Promises/A+ §2.2.1.
*/
describe( 'params', () =>
{
it( 'permit omitted callbacks', () =>
expect( () => ctor().then() )
.to.not.throw( Error ) );
it( 'permit undefined callbacks', () =>
expect( () => ctor().then( undefined, undefined ) )
.to.not.throw( Error ) );
it( 'permit null callbacks', () =>
expect( () => ctor().then( null, null ) )
.to.not.throw( Error ) );
} );
it( 'trigger fulfillment on accept', done =>
accept_sut( sut.then( ()=>done() ) ) );
it( 'trigger rejection on reject', done =>
reject_sut( sut.then( null, ()=>done() ) ) );
/**
* An implementation that invokes both callbacks for a given
* value/reason pair (that is---either an accept or reject) is
* implying that the request both succeeded and failed; since we
* have no intent on supporting superimposed states---and it's
* rational to assume that the consumer of the implementation
* has no such intent either---such an implementation should be
* considered to be in error.
*
* This will obviously not catch cases that may require certain
* types of input (e.g. a bug in specific portions of the
* logic), but will hopefully help to point out fatal design
* flaws, and prevent the need to duplicate such obvious tests
* for every `Thenable` implementation.
*/
describe( 'are not both called for a value/reason pair', () =>
{
/**
* This implementation attempts to determine, broadly,
* whether both callbacks were invoked. Doing so is not
* fool-proof, since `Thenable` mandates asynchrony, but we
* have no idea when the asynchronous event will be
* scheduled. Here, we assume that the callbacks are
* scheduled immediately after the invocation of `accept` or
* `reject`, and that scheduling our own callback would
* enqueue it after any `Thenable` callbacks. This may or
* may not be true.
*/
let postchk = ( f, done ) =>
{
let ok = true,
cf = () => ok = false;
f( ctor().then(
( f === reject ) && cf,
( f === accept ) && cf ) );
setTimeout( () => {
expect( ok ).to.be.true;
done();
}, 0 );
};
it( 'when fulfilled', done =>
postchk( accept, done ) );
it( 'when rejected', done =>
postchk( reject, done ) );
} );
/**
* Promises/A+ §2.2.5.
*/
describe( 'calling context', () =>
{
let no_context = ( () => this )();
let expect_no_c = done =>
() => expect( this ).to.equal( no_context )
&& done();
it( 'invokes fulfilled callback without context', done =>
accept_sut( sut
.then( expect_no_c( ()=>done() ), null ) ) );
it( 'invokes reject callback without context', done =>
reject_sut( sut
.then( null, expect_no_c( ()=>done() ) ) ) );
} );
} );
describe( 'invoked multiple times', () =>
/**
* There may be more than one observer interested in the results
* of a computation; Promises/A+ §2.2.6 states that each
* callback should be invoked in the order of their respective
* `then` calls.
*/
describe( 'will invoke in order of respective #then', () =>
{
let c = ( chk, i ) => {
expect( chk[ i-1 ] ).to.be.undefined;
chk[ i ] = undefined;
};
let multi_ctor = done =>
{
let chk = [ 0, 1, 2 ];
chk.forEach( i =>
{
let f = c( chk, i );
sut.then( f, f );
} );
sut.then( ()=>done(), ()=>done() );
return sut;
};
it( 'all fulfillment callbacks upon accept', done =>
accept_sut( multi_ctor( done ) ) );
it( 'all rejection callbacks upon reject', done =>
reject_sut( multi_ctor( done ) ) );
} ) );
}